(Disclaimer: State Representative Shelia Harrington’s office and Selectman Jack Petropoulos issued this media release this morning about the community effort to assist employees displaced by the December 29 fire at Blood Farm. The Groton Line is assisting as a media sponsor in the Blood Farm Employee Assistance Group. –Ed.)

Six weeks after an electrical fire destroyed Blood Farm butchery in Groton, Massachusetts, a network of customers, farmers, foodies, and town and state officials has come together to help the Blood Farm “family” of 20 employees displaced by the fire. Barney Blood, the 90-year old owner and patriarch of the family business, is meeting with architects and contractors and planning to rebuild in time for the 2014 harvest. Since the December 29 fire, most of the business’s employees have been unemployed — and they are the heart and soul of the business. Keeping that group of skilled employees together is a key to helping Blood Farm succeed after it rebuilds.

“Walking in to Blood Farm has always been like walking into a friend’s home. It was not the building, it was the people. As both a consumer and a meat producer, I saw both sides of their operation and the thing that ran through it all was the way I was treated. I always came away with a smile” Groton selectman and farmer Jack Petropoulos said. “I am privileged to be a part of giving that smile back.”

Blood has guaranteed jobs to all his employees, but some are having trouble making ends meet through a cold New England winter. The Blood Farm Employee Assistance Group has set up a website, www.bloodfarmgroton.com, to raise funds to assist employees until the business reopens in the fall. The Groton Community Foundation, a nonprofit foundation led by locavore restraunteur Steve Webber of the Webber Restaurant Group (Gibbet Hill Grill and Barn, Scarlett Oak Tavern, and other properties), is overseeing the collection and disbursement of funds.

The slaughterhouse, butcher shop, and smoke house business date to the Civil War; the family farm itself is more than a century older.

Because Blood Farm was one of just two FDA approved slaughterhouses in the state, and because of its reputation for humane practices and high quality meats, the business attracted farmers from Maine down through Connecticut as meat processing customers. The quality of the meats, the atmosphere of the retail store, and the staff’s ability to custom cut and prepare almost any cut of beef, pork, or poultry earned it a devoted following in the gourmet and foodie communities. Blood Farm also bought and processed hard to find meats — 4-H rabbits and lambs, goat (prized in Boston’s immigrant and ethnic communities — the business was considered halal by the Boston Islamic community), and was known for its preparation of hunters’ deer.

State Representative Shelia Harrington is heading up an effort to put together a fundraising event to help the effort. She is also working with Blood Farm, the state Farm Bureau, and Blood’s insurance companies to move the rebuilding process along.

“When I was asked to be a part of the effort to help the Blood Farm employees, I jumped at the opportunity,” she said. Blood Farm is such an integral part of this community, and has been for hundreds of years. It’s one of the only certified butcheries in the state, and it employs more than 20 people. We need to do everything we can to support the employees of Blood Farm while it is being rebuilt. We owe it to them.”

“We’re planning a big fundraiser for February 27 at Gibbet Hill in Groton, to benefit the Blood Farm Employees Assistance Fund. There will be music and food, and we’ll be coming together to celebrate Blood Farm, and to do what we can for their employees during their time of need,” Harrington said.

In addition to financial contributions, the Groton Board of Selectmen are coordinating donations of food, fuel, and heating fuel.

Maria Borino, owner of Pizzeria Maria in Nashua, New Hampshire was one of the first people to ask about helping out. The morning of the fire, she wrote, “I own a local pizza place, Pizzeria Maria in Nashua, and I highlight their bacon and name on my menu. They are a great family and have had a family of long term employees. I would like to do whatever I can to start a fundraising effort for them in some way and would love your help in getting that information out to the local communities.”

Borino has set up the Blood Farm Employee Assistance Group’s Facebook page.

Add An Event To The Groton Community Calendar

Town Meetings

Obituaries

Thomas E. Wyatt of Fitchburg, died on March 24, 2015 at his winter home in Spring Hill, Florida. He was born on the Williams farm in Groton Massachusetts on June 30, 1942, son of the late Alfred and Mary Williams Wyatt. He grew up in Groton and ...